Popyrin wins maiden Masters 1000 title in Montreal
Alexei Popyrin beats world number six Andrey Rublev in the final of the Canadian Open to claim his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal.
Alexei Popyrin beats world number six Andrey Rublev in the final of the Canadian Open to claim his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal.
Andrey Rublev may have fallen one match short of winning his third ATP Masters 1000 title on Monday night at the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers, but the 26-year-old is proud of how he controlled his emotions throughout his run in Montreal.
“It’s a very positive and a really good week. A really big step forward I think. I feel proud of myself that I was able to be really good all week mentally,” Rublev said. “If we took me back a couple of months ago or even one month ago or even compare my match against [Popyrin] at Monte-Carlo when I was losing, I was behaving ten times more and it was the first round.
“Here it was a final. Much more pressure. I still showed a bit of emotion today, but compared to the matches when I was losing the same way, I think I did a much better job. That’s why I had a little chance in the second set.”
[ATP APP]Rublev has struggled to control his emotions at times in the past, with fans becoming accustomed to seeing the 26-year-old show a full range of feelings when on court.
However, the No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings was calm throughout his run in Montreal, where he upset World No. 1 Jannik Sinner en route to the final. The 16-time tour-level titlist is keen to build on his emotional progress in the weeks ahead.
“I know which lesson I need to take from this match and just to keep moving,” said Rublev, who lost to Alexei Popyrin in straight sets in the final. “I’ve been [trying to be] more clear in my head since Bastad and every week I’m doing better and better.
“This week no one expected that I [would reach] the final and I did it. So I’m back in a good position in terms of ranking. So I want to focus, keep improving. I just need to take the right lesson and keep going.”
Rublev, who the week before reached the semi-finals in Washington, improved to seventh place in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, as he seeks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fifth consecutive year. The 26-year-old was looking to claim a second Masters 1000 title of the season after he won Madrid during the clay swing.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Alexei Popyrin delivered for Australia at the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers in Montreal on Monday when he became the first Aussie ATP Masters 1000 winner since Lleyton Hewitt triumphed in Indian Wells 21 years ago in 2003.
Popyrin defeated Andrey Rublev in the final to claim the biggest title of his career and revealed that former World No. 1 Hewitt offered him important advice ahead of the hard-court event that gave him a boost in Canada.
“Lleyton was actually with me at the Olympics last week and he helped me so much in the Olympics and has helped me so much throughout my career. He gave me some good advice after my match against Zverev at the Olympics,” said Popyrin, who lost to the German in Paris. “He said, ‘You took one of the best players in the world, one of the more informed players in the world, to kind of play some unbelievable tennis to beat you’. I was a break up in that match, so serving for the [first] set and kind of choked it.
“He kind of flipped the switch on it and kind of told me a positive overlook on that match and then gave me the confidence coming into this week.”
Popyrin played with a renewed sense of belief all week in Montreal and thundered 18 forehand winners in the final. The 25-year-old believes his attacking display against Rublev was one of the best performances of his life.
“I would say it’s one of the best matches I’ve played in my life. I think it’s not a level that I haven’t seen myself produce in practise or an occasional match here and there, but considering the occasion, considering what we were playing for, I think with the level that I played, it probably is the best match that I’ve played in my life,” Popyrin said.
“For me, I’m not kind of most proud about how I played in this final. It’s more how I played throughout the whole week. The level that I produced the whole week to play these top guys. To beat them with the level of tennis that I showed was really a testament to everything.”
[ATP APP]Popyrin earned three Top 10 wins en route to the title in Montreal, while he defeated five Top 20 players in total to become the first player to achieve that feat at a Masters 1000 event since Holger Rune in Paris in 2022.
The 25-year-old overcame Sebastian Korda to reach the final and then showed little nerves in the title match against Rublev. The Australian is pleased with how he handled the occasion on Court Central.
“I felt pretty calm. What I work for is to play in matches like this, and there’s no point in going out there nervous or scared of the occasion when you’ve worked your whole life to play matches like this,” Popyrin said.
“For me, I really enjoy playing big matches. I really enjoy playing finals and semi-finals and big tournaments in front of a big crowd on a big court. For me that’s where I feel like I play my best tennis. I came out there. I wanted to put a statement in the first game and I think I did that.”
Popyrin arrived in Canada at No. 62 in the PIF ATP Rankings but has climbed 39 spots to a career-high No. 23 after winning his third tour-level title. The Australian feels his victory is a reward for the hard work.
“At the early start of my career it was to not get injured and just play and just not get injured. Now it is building a body, building an athlete that we’ve been doing for two years now,” Popyrin said.
“I felt it out there. Especially the last three matches the past two days. Coming off two tough matches yesterday and to come out and feel the way I did on the court, it just shows that all of the work that we’re putting in we’re building an athlete. I don’t think we’re done yet. My fitness coach is telling me I’ve got a lot of work to do still. I’m not looking forward to it, but I’m going to do it. That’s for sure.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The North American hard-court swing continued at the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers , where Alexei Popyrin powered to the title. ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the PIF ATP Rankings as of Tuesday, 13 August.
[ATP APP]No. 23 Alexei Popyrin, +39 (Career High)
The Australian has soared to a career-high No. 23 in the PIF ATP Rankings after he won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal. Popyrin earned five Top 20 wins en route to the title, including a final win against Andrey Rublev.
“It means the world, for all the hard work I’ve put in over the years, all the sacrifices I have made,” said Popyrin, who is the first Australian Masters 1000 winner since Lleyton Hewitt won Indian Wells 21 years ago in 2003.
No. 6 Andrey Rublev, +2
Rublev has jumped two spots after he reached his sixth Masters 1000 final and second of the season. The 26-year-old, who won in Madrid earlier this season, upset World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals but could not overcome Popyrin, who saved match points in his third-round win against Grigor Dimitrov.
No. 15 Sebastian Korda, +3 (Career High)
The 24-year-old continued his recent rise with a semi-final showing in Montreal. The American, who captured his maiden ATP 500 title in Washington earlier this month, upset World No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the quarters for his second Top 5 win.
No. 30 Matteo Arnaldi, +10 (Career High)
The Italian has jumped to a career-high after he reached his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final in Montreal. Arnaldi dropped just one set to reach the last four.
Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 8 Casper Ruud, +1
No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov, +1
No. 39 Nuno Borges, +4 (Career High)
No. 59 Arthur Rinderknech, +6
No. 65 Rinky Hijikata, +9 (Career High)
No. 67 James Duckworth +13
No. 83 Borna Coric, +11
The pain was sudden. There was a pounding in his head. Hugo Dellien was awake in the middle of the night. To make matters more frustrating, the Bolivian was competing that week in qualifying for Roland Garros, the clay-court major where in 2022 he beat two-time finalist Dominic Thiem in the opening round.
But this year’s trip to the Parisian clay for Dellien was the beginning of a difficult period for the 31-year-old, who has since turned around his misfortune for three ATP Challenger Tour titles in the past month. Dellien fell in the first round of Roland Garros qualifying and quickly returned home to South America to address the immense pain in his mouth that pain pills could not subside.
“It was a tough time because I had a lot of things with my wisdom teeth. I took out three wisdom teeth,” Dellien told ATPTour.com. “So much pain in my head. I couldn’t eat anything, just ice cream. If you take out just one wisdom tooth, you can eat. But not with three.
“I chose to get the three out because it’s one time and then no more. It was a hard moment.”
[ATP APP]Two days after competing in France, Dellien underwent wisdom tooth extraction. And in his first tournament back, the Santa Fe Challenger, adversity hit once again in a freak accident.
In his second-round match, Dellien was struck in the eye with the ball, which deflected off his racquet frame while he was at net.
“I didn’t see anything in my right eye. No inflammation or anything, but I could not continue because I couldn’t see good and I had a lot of pain in my head and in my eyes too,” Dellien recalled. “Bad luck this time.”
In a raw moment, Dellien visibly grew frustrated as he tried to continue the match. His hard work was being crushed by events out of his control. He retired shortly after suffering the eye injury and proceeded to see a doctor in Buenos Aires, where he has lived since moving from Bolivia at age 17.
“The doctor said to me, ‘You have to close your eyes 20 hours [a day], because the eye will get better alone. You don’t need a pill or medical treatment, it will get better naturally. But you have to close them as much time as you can. Because when you open them, it’s not recovering’.
“He said it, but of course I cannot do it. I tried to do it the most time that I could, but not 20 hours!” Dellien said.
After two weeks away from tournament action, it did not take long for Dellien to find his best form. He has won 17 of his past 19 Challenger-level matches, including three titles: Iasi, Romania; Liberec, Czech Republic; and in Bonn, Germany this past Sunday. Dellien is close to returning to the Top 100, which he has not been a part of since March 2023.
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/12/16/27/dellien-bonnch-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Hugo Dellien wins the Challenger 75 event in Bonn, Germany.” />
Hugo Dellien wins the Challenger 75 event in Bonn, Germany. Credit: Bonn Open
Currently World No. 107 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Dellien, who has been as high as No. 64, is reaping rewards for his dedication and perseverance.
“I’m very happy because for the last six, eight months I wasn’t playing good. I didn’t have good results. I worked a lot and the results weren’t coming,” Dellien said. “But I think the support of my family, my team, all the people that follow me, gave me the power to change the moment. I think now I’m playing a little bit better. I won tough matches, got some confidence to play better. I won Iasi and it changed.”
Dellien lifted the Iasi Challenger title one week removed from his brother Murkel Dellien claiming his maiden trophy at that level in Romania. “This is so special for us,” said Hugo, whose nickname is, ‘La Pantera’, translated as ‘The Panther’.
A 12-time Challenger champion, Dellien credits his family and team for their support in helping him regain confidence. His wife Camila gave birth to twin girls in January, making them a family of five. Their first child, Mila, was born in 2020.
“My wife knows the life of tennis because she was a professional tennis player too. She knows how the work is,” Dellien said. “She said to me, ‘You can do it, just take it easy and work hard.’ The support of my family is the most important thing in my life. If I don’t have this support, I cannot do anything.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson have won three titles together this season. Will they claim a fourth at the Cincinnati Open?
The eighth-seeded Australians ousted American wild cards Robert Cash and JJ Tracy 7-6(5), 6-3 on Monday evening to reach the second round in Ohio. They will next play Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas or Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen.
Purcell and Thompson, champions this year in Dallas, Los Cabos and Houston, saved all four break points they faced according to Infosys ATP Stats. They are pursuing their first ATP Masters 1000 title as a team.
[ATP APP]Singles stars Arthur Fils and Nicolas Jarry ousted Belgian doubles standouts Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-2, 7-5. The French-Chilean duo will next take on second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden.
In other action, sixth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin defeated Lloyd Glasspool and Ugo Humbert 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 and Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic defeated Sadio Doumbia and Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-2.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Australian Alexei Popyrin completed one of the most unlikely ATP Masters 1000 title runs in recent memory Monday night when he stunned World No. 6 Andrey Rublev in the Montreal final on the back of 18 forehand winners.
Coming into the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers as the World No. 62 and after playing the Paris Olympics on clay, the 25-year-old Australian claimed three Top 10 wins and snapped the eight-match winning streak of Washington champion Sebastian Korda en route to the title. He also took down World No. 14 Ben Shelton in the second round.
“It means the world, for all the hard work I’ve put in over the years, all the sacrifices I have made,” said Popyrin, who is the first Australian Masters 1000 winner since Lleyton Hewitt won Indian Wells 21 years ago in 2003.
“Not just me, but my family, my girlfriend, my team, everybody around me. They have sacrificed their whole lives for me and for me to win this for them is just amazing.”
[ATP APP]Fully buying into a Big-Man Tennis approach behind his booming serve, aggressive assault of Rublev’s second serve and massive forehand blows, Popyrin broke Rublev to love in the opening game of the match and never looked back as he charged to a 6-2, 6-4 win.
Surging to a career-high No. 23 in the PIF ATP Rankings after reprising his win over Rublev in this year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Popyrin saved all four break points he faced in the first set. In the second set he showed composure after dropping serve for 3-all to immediately break Rublev by dancing around a second serve and thundering two huge forehands.
By improving to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Rublev, Popyrin maintained his perfect record in ATP Tour finals, adding to trophies he won in Singapore in 2021 and Umag in 2023.
Popyrin saved three match points to upset World No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov in the third round. He then defeated No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals before upending Korda in the semi-finals. He is the second-lowest-ranked champion in tournament history, behind only Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors, who was No. 95 when he won in 1993.
He is the first player to record five Top 20 wins at an event since Novak Djokovic at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals, and first to do so since Holger Rune’s run to the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters title.
Popyrin redlined his game in the opening set when he clubbed 10 forehand winners to one for Rublev, known for having one of the most feared forehands in the game. Making 72 per cent of first serves in the opener was also a critical part of Popyrin’s success as he won 18/21 first serves but just 1/8 on second serve.
Lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champions
| Player | Rank | Event |
| Borna Coric | 152 | 2022 Cincinnati |
| Roberto Carretero | 143 | 1996 Hamburg |
| Mikael Pernfors | 95 | 1993 Montreal |
| Alexei Popyrin | 62 | 2024 Montreal |
| Chris Woodruff | 57 | 1997 Montreal |
Popyrin broke Rublev in the opening game of the second set and as victory neared continued to show conviction in his high-risk, high reward strategy.
Popyrin won’t be afforded much time to celebrate the greatest moment in his career. A first-round meeting at the Cincinnati Open with Gael Monfils awaits, with the winner to face second seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Masters 1000 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍 has a nice ring to it 🏆@AlexeiPopyrin99
claims the biggest title of his career with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Rublev. ✨@OBNmontreal
| #OBN24
pic.twitter.com/8j2g0xGCnc—
ATP Tour (@atptour) August
13, 2024
Popyrin dropped just six points on his first serve and served 10 aces for the match according to Infosys ATP Stats. He came to the net sparingly, but found success on seven of nine approaches.
Rublev, who the week before reached the semi-finals in Washington, improved to seventh place in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, as he seeks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fifth consecutive year. The 26-year-old was looking to claim a second Masters 1000 title of the season after he won Madrid during the clay swing.
“It’s a very positive and really good week,” Rublev said of his run to the final. “Really big step forward I think, and I feel proud of myself that I was able to be really good all the week mentally.
“Even today because if we took me back a couple of months ago or even one month ago or even compare my match against him at Monte-Carlo when I was losing, I was behaving 10 times more, and it was first round.
“Here it was a final. Much more pressure. Yes, I still showed a bit emotions today, but compare the matches when I was losing the same way, I think I did much better job. That’s why I had a little chance in the second set, but it was just not my time I guess.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
Horacio Zeballos produced a serving masterclass in partnering Marcel Granollers to their second ATP Masters 1000 title of the year in Montreal on Monday.
The Argentine dropped just one point on his serve throughout the match, winning his 21st straight service point on championship point to hand Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury their second consecutive runner-up finish in the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers following the 6-2, 7-6(4) victory.
[ATP APP]“This was our first tournament together five years ago, so it’s a very special tournament for us and it means a lot to win this title,” Zeballos said. “It was a pleasure to play in front of this beautiful crowd.”
Granollers said, “Rajeev and Joe are one of the greatest teams on tour and it’s very tough to play against them. But we’re very happy with how we played today. We’re very happy with the year with two Masters 1000s.”
Granollers and Zeballos won the Montreal title five years ago (beating Ram and Salisbury en route in the semi-finals) in their first tournament as a team.
In addition to winning the Rome title during the clay swing, Granollers and Zeballos also reached the final in Miami.
The Spanish-Argentine duo claimed two breaks in the opening set, including one in the seventh game that featured a point-of-the-year contender which had the teams scrambling to all corners of the court (watch below).
In a tight second set Salisbury rallied from 0/40 at 5-all. In the tie-break, all it took was Zeballos’ backhand chip lob return over Salisbury’s head to give the former champions the decisive mini-break at 5/4, from where Zeballos claimed his 20th and 21st consecutive points on serve to clinch the title and extend his team’s lead atop the PIF ATP Live Doubles Team Rankings.
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Flavio Cobolli battled back from the brink to notch a milestone win on Monday afternoon at the Cincinnati Open.
The 22-year-old Italian saved three match points en route to a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 upset of home favourite Tommy Paul at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Ohio. Cobolli held firm under severe pressure from Paul in the 10th game of the deciding set, when he recovered from 15/40 to hold serve and avoid defeat. He then crucially broke Paul’s serve in the next game, before serving out for a two-hour, six-minute triumph.
His first-round victory against World No. 13 Paul was Cobolli’s biggest by PIF ATP Ranking, although the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF competitor arrived in Cincinnati with some good recent pedigree against Top 20 opponents. He defeated 14th-ranked Ben Shelton en route to his maiden ATP Tour final in Washington two weeks ago, before defeating 19th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime in Montreal last week.
Cobolli 🤝 Cinci 🙌
He takes down home hope Paul with a 6-2 4-6 7-5 win 🔥@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/pygjnT8Kjb
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 12, 2024
Cobolli made a rapid start to his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Paul but was later forced to rally from 1-3 in the decider and then save the three match points in the 10th game of the third set. The Italian completed his win having struck 25 winners to his opponent’s 15, and he converted six of 12 break points he earned in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Having started 2024 as the World No. 101, Cobolli is now up to No. 30 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings after clinching his sixth Masters 1000 match win of the year. Next up for the Italian at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where he is making his tournament debut, is a second-round clash against Alejandro Tabilo or countryman Luciano Darderi.
Paul was seeking a deep run in Cincinnati this week as he chases a maiden appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. The American lifted his first ATP 500 trophy at the Queen’s Club in June and then reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics, but he won just one match across Montreal and Cincinnati. The 27-year-old is currently 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and he remains 370 points behind eighth-placed Alex de Minaur, who currently occupies the final qualification spot.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
Carlos Alcaraz returns to the Cincinnati Open one year on from a memorable championship match here against Novak Djokovic, which he lost in a gruelling three hours and 49 minutes. This time, he has more experience in his back pocket.
The Spaniard brings with him to Mason priceless experience from the Paris Olympics, where he partnered Rafael Nadal in the men’s doubles. The pair lost in the quarter-finals to eventual silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the United States.
“It was a great experience, talking with Rafa off the court, knowing each other much better off the court. It was a great experience, obviously, playing doubles together. It was great,” Alcaraz said during his press conference Sunday in Cincinnati. “It was something that I will never forget, for sure. I learned a lot talking to him on court, off the court as well. I think we played a great tennis in doubles, even if we are not used to playing doubles very often.
“A little bit disappointing at the end, because we thought that we could do it better, but in general, we were happy. And obviously talking about myself, I reached my dream, my dream came true, playing doubles alongside Rafa.”
Nadal has earned countless accolades in his career. The 38-year-old has spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won 22 major titles and 36 ATP Masters 1000 trophies. Alcaraz was able to pick his countryman’s brain in Paris to learn from all of his experiences. What advice from Nadal helped him the most?
“How to deal with some situations playing doubles. Sometimes when we were down, he was there in a positive way, talking to me like, ‘Well, right now they are going to feel [it] with the pressure. We have to just stay there, put some balls in, try to get them in trouble’,” Alcaraz said. “Some situations, some things that you probably don’t see, or is difficult to see, he sees very, very clear and off the court, how to prepare the difficult situations or the matches. It [was] a master class.”
[ATP APP]Alcaraz claimed the silver medal in singles, losing the gold-medal match in two tie-breaks to Djokovic. The winner of Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, Alcaraz is hungry to learn from that defeat to continue challenging for and winning the biggest tournaments.
In Cincinnati, the second seed can complete the full set of American Masters 1000 titles, having already triumphed at Indian Wells and Miami.
“I always want to be better. I always think that I could do it better. Obviously, I had a great summer: Roland Garros, Wimbledon, silver in the Olympics. Obviously, I wanted the gold medal,” Alcaraz said. “After the matches, if I win or I lose, I like to find the bad things that I did in the matches, try to be better, try to in the next match not make the same mistakes in the shots or dealing with some situations. And that’s what happened.
“That’s what I saw in the final in Paris, that I couldn’t deal with the situations as good as I wanted, and that’s what I was thinking after the match, just to be better, and probably being harder on myself.”
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